With Israeli elections called for Oct. 27, a group organizing an Israel tech-investment conference in Miami Beach has pushed back the date for the high-level event until Dec. 14.
Some 50 companies from Israel are slated to present their offerings at the GoForIsrael investment conference at the Fontainebleau Hotel, each seeking $20 million to $50 million in their latest funding round. At least 300 people are expected to attend, mostly investors.
“Our goal is for each Israeli entrepreneur to meet 10 investors that day,” said Edouard Cukierman [pictured above], the Israeli financier whose investment company is organizing the event.
The tech-investment conference was first slated for March 16, but then, was reset for Oct. 26 after the start of the Iran war in February disrupted flights. Cukierman said the later date is helping draw more investors to Miami Beach, with financier and entrepreneur Michael Fertik of Heroic Ventures and Modelcode.ai among U.S. heavyweights expected to attend.
South Florida a growing hub for Israeli companies in the US
The GoForIsrael conference has been convening since 1997, mostly in Israel, but also in Europe, Asia, and the United Arab Emirates. The Miami Beach edition will be its first edition in the United States, the world’s largest financial market.
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Organizers opted for South Florida, because the area has become a top destination for Israeli companies expanding overseas. About two-thirds of the 400-plus Israeli companies in Florida call Miami-Dade County home, according to a 2025 report by the US-Israel Business Alliance. More Israeli companies are opting to set up in the US nowadays too, Cukierman added.
“Before the war, only 27 percent of Israeli entrepreneurs created their firm in the US. Today, the majority are moving into the US market,” said Cukierman. That’s partly because it’s tougher for US investors to visit Israel amid conflicts in the region.
At the Miami Beach conference, Israeli entrepreneurs are presenting mainly in two fields: life sciences, including medical aesthetics, and high-tech, including Artificial Intelligence. Funding has been flowing into Israeli ventures in those fields in 2026, news reports show. This September alone, for instance, enterprise AI startup Wonderful raised $550 million at a $5 billion valuation, just 20 months after its launch. New York-based Insight Partners led Wonderful’s Series C funding round. In addition, Israel’s RealSense, which makes AI vision technology, agreed to be sold to US machine-vision maker Cognex in a deal topping $600 million. An executive of RealSense is expected to speak about the acquisition at the Miami Beach event, Cukierman said.
Israel – a country of just 10 million people, only the size of Pennsylvania – has become a center for global innovation, earning the name “Startup Nation” for its plethora of new businesses. It regularly produces more new tech ventures per person than any nation worldwide and attracts more venture capital per person than any other country, according to industry reports.
The Dec. 14 conference builds on a growing list of Israel tech events in the Sunshine State. Since 2025, a South Florida group has organized the annual Israel Tech Week in Miami, with its next edition set for April 4-8, 2027.
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Doreen Hemlock is a journalist who worked years with the South Florida SunSentinel newspaper and before that, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Peru, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. She holds an MBA from Columbia University, thanks in part to a Knight-Bagehot fellowship. Reach her at doreenhemlock@gmail.com.
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